SYMPHONY OF ENCHANTED LANDS II - THE DARK SECRET

Admittedly I'm not a fan of opera but I like metal without being a metal purist at all, and of course I love Prog. What Rhapsody is offering us here can be called someting like a metal opera. I've to say there was a time I found this type of music appealing and therefore I was buying this CD two years ago. After a few listens it moved back to the shelf because I found many other things much more interesting. Just now I decided to grap it again to see whether I still can enjoy it. But what a bad experience, I listened to it once and found most of it alienating. So I gave it a second chance when I've been in a different kind of mood and still, there were only few moments I could support. I don't know how to express it, it's just blatantly overblown stuff, so much hilarious (especially when the "beast" shows up), all those overblown passionate vocals and even the instrumental parts can't equalize them. This is a kind of music which might be appealing for a couple of spins but nothing which passes the test of time. I don't know yet if I'd still like their other previous releases (and I used to like them years ago) but I'll try (if I find some courageous moment). I can just say that this record isn't at all essential Prog, let alone a masterpiece and I even couldn't call it good at all. I would say it's for fans only (or for fellows preferring overblown metal-opera stuff) thus my 2-stars rating.